How long will air quality be bad in Chicago?
CHICAGO (CBS) -- When will the smoke clear in Chicago?
Winds from the north on Tuesday blew a heavy shroud of smoke created by massive Canadian wildfires, causing the air quality here to soar to unhealthy levels. In fact, the air was so bad here that it was rated the worst on Earth.
The hazy, smoggy atmosphere permeated the area again on Thursday, and Chicago's air was rated second-worst in the world at an unhealthy level. Washington, D.C. ranked first and Detroit was No. 3
Early Wednesday morning, Chicago moved to the third worst air quality in the world, behind Dubai and Detroit.
High ozone levels also contributed to Chicago's poor air. The National Weather Service has issued an Air Quality Alert through midnight Thursday night. Originally, forecasters hoped conditions would improve by Wednesday evening.
Showers and thunderstorms are expected to arrive Thursday.
What you should do
In the meantime, according to airnow.gov, people should take the following precautions.
People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children, and teens: Avoid physical activities outdoors.
Everyone else: Avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep outdoor activities short, and consider moving physical activities indoors or rescheduling them.
"It's really the people that have any sort of airway disease that we have to be concerned about, any airway disease, but particularly the inflammatory ones like asthma, COPD. Those are the people that are most affected by what's going on right now," Dr. Nimmi Rajagopal with the Cook County Health Department said.
"Smelling like campfire smoke"
Still, not everyone was heeding those warnings. CBS 2's Andrew Ramos came across many people going about their business.
Along the Riverwalk in downtown, joggers and tourists went about their day, trying to soak in as many attractions as possible.
Some of the business owners along the Riverwalk acknowledged the crowds for lunchtime were usually bigger and that the air quality had certainly put a dent in foot traffic.
"I thought it was going to be nice until it started smelling like campfire smoke," said Will Bland who was visiting Chicago from Washington, D.C.
18 million acres burning
On Monday, a Canadian agency added at least 27 new wildland fires to their list.
There are more than 18 million acres affected this year.
In Montreal, experts have pushed their air quality rating into the "high-risk category," warning residents to take precautions.
